


Hit in the Heart

by Ncie0h43nnbfej2



Category: HEARTBEAT (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Falling In Love, Partying, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:48:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21797128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ncie0h43nnbfej2/pseuds/Ncie0h43nnbfej2
Summary: Gwen is visiting Piecewood. Beck suggests going to a very special party. Gwen meets the mysterious DJ.
Relationships: Gwen West/Cache Monet
Kudos: 4





	Hit in the Heart

**Author's Note:**

> A cute story about two characters meeting each other. An unusual couple of them, too!
> 
> This fic was written for Kizumi's birthday, requested by her - the biggest Gwen/Cache fan.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

“So, how about that?” Beck sat back on the couch, looking at her.

“It’s like a little work out, you know! We bought this game not so long ago, you gotta dance when you play it, and it was really fun, but I thought, like, maybe we could do it for real. So I went ahead, I asked around…” Io was saying, leaning in closer and closer.

“You practically interrogated Ann after catching just a bit of that gossip…” her conjurer clarified.

“Well, I mean, maybe, but that’s not the point. Basically, it’s a cool party club, there’s even a password to enter and all! And I… Wait, what was it again? Do you have it written down?” Io stopped talking only to look around in panic, patting her own pockets.

“Oh no-o-o, I didn’t bother to memorize it either,” Beck dragged, teasing her mogwai partner.

“Damn it! How are we going to get in then?! Seriously? I ju-u-ust got Gwen all excited for it!”

Gwen blinked a couple of times, her mind somewhere else. Or, at the very least, busy processing something that wasn’t Io’s ramblings. She was quite nervous about going back to Piecewood, meeting Becky and everyone else - especially Ondo, though. In the end, it turned out to be a rather peculiar task - she didn’t have the moment to worry, the silly wisp mogwai just would never quiet down, kept talking, it felt like something drilling through her head. Now she was apparently offered to go to some sort of shady club.

The guest from the west could already imagine the rumble of bass, the screaming, the floor rattling from people’s feet stomping it over and over. She was a city gal, but somehow cars screeching at turns, neighbours doing loud repairs and stray animals fighting in alleyways never bothered her so.

“O-oh, really? That sounds… great?” she squeezed out of herself, furrowing her eyebrows and rubbing her temples a bit, although disguising that action as if she was adjusting her flashy hat.

“It can’t be that bad, really, I’d expect this sort of gathering to have a bit more taste to it than the usual surroundings here, no?” Kai spoke up. She was sitting next to Gwen, taking up very little space, legs crossed, hands folded on her lap. “Wire went to see his family, Coal’s doing her… things. We could actually do something other than sit around here, too. No offense, Beck.”

“None taken. I mean, we just kinda have a different lifestyle here. So see, Io got an idea,” Beck said, smiling softly. She really wasn’t the person to take such words to heart, she knew life in Harbei was a little bit boring or, perhaps, odd for someone like Gwen - even more so for the elegant Kai.

Gwen sighed.

“Sure, okay. I guess we’ll give it a visit. So you guys actually know how to get there, right?”

“Yep. I mean, we’re on good terms with that tanuki - Shep - she’s gonna let us use the sewers. Pretty cool stuff. Bet you guys in the big city don’t have that,” Beck chuckled.

“Um, we have trains and…” Gwen was about to explain, but her response was cut short by Kai.

“Excuse me, a sewer?! I didn’t pack my bellingtons for this! Neither do i have an outfit for such… hazardous environment,” Kai seemed shocked.

“Calm do-o-own, sometimes the fat rats that live there fall asleep on the floor so you can walk on them instead of crawling waist-deep in waste,” Beck offered the chance.

Kai couldn’t respond.

“It’s… a stupid joke, Kai, don’t worry,” Gwen squinted saying that and rubbed her mogwai friend’s shoulder to comfort her. “Jeez, Becky…”

“What’d I do? Of course it’s clean there, don’t worry. You city gals…”

“So we’re not gonna skip and jump from one big rat to another? Lame…” Io grumbled quietly, pouting and crossing her arms on her chest.

Gwen had to hold Kai’s hand as they got through the dark sewer passage, the mysterious wormhole hub of the tanuki. The kappa felt sick in there and kept complaining all the way to the ladder that led them all to Otecho.

They climbed out of the sewers, pushed the lid back to cover the manhole, and took a look around. Beck quickly counted them all up - everyone was present.

“Otecho? So is this gonna be a concert, like, that Patch girl you told me about a while back?” Gwen dusted her jacket, sneezing a couple of times - the change from the moist sewer air to the freshness of Otecho was unexpected. It was an interesting place - a rather big town, yet situated in the large sprawling forests of Piecewood, surrounded by nature.

“Her? Nope. Her concerts are more… spontaneous. Wherever, whenever, and there’s often a fight there, too. You gals probably wouldn’t like it,” Beck said, motioning for them to follower her as she headed for the large apartment building towering above everything in the distance.

“I surely don’t wanna leave Piecewood with bruises and all… get enough of that when training,” West said, rubbing her sides a little bit. She fell recently, although it wasn’t during baseball training - Wire and Coal were just being stupid while on the bus to Harbei, almost started a fight with another passenger, and poor Gwen had to break it up.

“Understandable. Don’t worry though, if you don’t like it, we’ll do something else, maybe.”

“Huh! Didn’t come all the way here to leave!” Io said, displeased.

“Literally just had to go through the sewers. Don’t be like that, silly…” Beck scolded her mogwai friend, softly. They were approaching the apartments then, she reached for the door, opened and held it so for everyone to come in. “Don’t be tempted by the coffee shop here, it’s too expensive, by the way. Or so I heard.”

The rather youthful atmosphere of this town soothed Gwen’s shaky nerves. Hanging out with Beck felt nice, but she didn’t know if she particularly enjoyed all of this - being far from the place she got used to, far from her friends and her activities in the big city. Perhaps, the party would set her feelings in the right direction for her stay in Piecewood.

The group made their way up the stairs and stopped at a certain floor. Io and Beck confirmed something with each other, making sure they wouldn’t be knocking on the wrong door. Unfortunately, Io was the first to try. She mercilessly slammed her fist on the door, then was even going to kick it, so impatient to hear back from whoever was to hear the password.

“Don’t break the door. Password!”

“KEPLER!”

“You don’t have to shout it, idiot, the whole block is going to know it! Fine…”

The door swung open, Io gave everyone behind her a thumbs-up, making three pairs of eyes roll. Everyone followed her inside. The door was closed and locked behind them soon, otherwise the party that was going on inside would’ve leaked outside pretty quickly - something unacceptable for its notorious host, Cache Monet. It was funny, because a lot more people have been learning about the existence of the party, but the image was to be maintained.

It was a gloomy, even somewhat scary dark room that was illuminated by the LED-lit tiles of the dancefloor, several more of those where the DJ stood, and a number of odd tall lava lamp-like pillars that also had funny plastic figurines of aliens stuck inside. Or, at least, Gwen hoped it was just figurines, not the real deal. Who knows? Anything could happen in those towns outside the growing modern cities. Aliens love landing in places like this, she knew from the movies.

Despite all that, somehow, it felt a little bit like home. Modern, exciting, dark but bright, cool and exciting - the party hit all the feelings of a city club, if not even better than one. After all, this place was kept a secret - somewhat - keeping it invite-only.

Suddenly, two very bright lamps shone right at all of them.

“Newcomers… I’m going to need samples,” an odd voice spoke up, and it sounded as if it was transmitted through a faulty walkie-talkie.

“... Samples?”

“Damn, this is sort of freaky,” Beck muttered, scratching the back of her head. She didn’t feel so nice in there, everything felt too loud and weird.

“You want samples? Come and get ‘em!” Io stomped her foot on the dancefloor so hard it almost made one of the tiles crack.

“I’m… Going to hang out at the bar then,” Kai said, eyebrows raised, fixing her hat and holding onto it as she made her way through the crowd.

Gwen, however, said nothing.

The DJ was fast. Soon enough, their voices - that is, of Beck, Io and Kai - and the words they’ve said, have been quickly sampled, cut in bits, word-mixed into the oncoming tracks that would play at the party. It really angered Io, yet didn’t matter at all to Beck, who simply felt a bit embarrassed. Kai preferred to stay at the bar and try make new acquaintances - surely only the most exquisite individuals of all would visit such a place - she, of course, excluded Beck and Io, whom she didn’t consider fashionable at all. She never spoke up about it, however, fearing for her life.

Gwen stepped forward and saw something rather unusual - the DJ had an odd mask on, the glass on the eyeholes shining with different colours, the filters sucking in air rapidly and releasing steam. At that moment, the colour of the lenses was light blue, and clouds were rising up around the Cache Monet’s face.

“I’m excited, and you wouldn’t provide a sample? How rude of you!”

“Whatever.”

“Attitude!” the DJ said, her lenses’ colour shifting to pink, with green hearts forming in the centre. “Come on! Why don’t you let me hear something c o o l…”

“... You’re a weirdo,” Gwen furrowed her eyebrows.

“Agh… HIT in the gut there! Everyone’s a weirdo if they’re here, bud!” the DJ said, the lights glowing darker blue.

“You’re persistent,” Gwen said, taking several more steps towards the DJ’s stand. The party carried on around them, and despite the dialogue going on between them, the guests treated it like part of the show, not upset about it at all.

“I’m known for that!”

Gwen liked, in a way. She thought the DJ was funny and could keep the act cool even under pressure. Somewhat, she even felt the need to “check” this funny girl’s act and see how she could keep up with Gwen being rather dissatisfied with the request.

“Fine. Let’s hear this one…” the city conjurer - or ‘witch’, as she was called, said, reaching into hammerspace to get something. The people around, although dancing and chatting, were seemingly surprised to see her manifest the ability in front of everyone. It was like a show.

Soon enough, she pulled out a metal bat - with a couple of dents in it - and a baseball, which she lightly tossed towards the DJ. Cache caught it and looked at it, curious.

“That thing has been through training!” she said, then pointed to at the bat in Gwen’s hand.

“Oh, this one? This one is for practical use, but I like the sound it makes, so we’ll use it,” the city gal said with a smirk.

Cache felt her heart skip a beat or two. Unlike her DJ persona, she was rather calm herself. People like Gwen intrigued her. She looked like someone who had everything under control, all the time, cold, cool, chilly but in that awesome way that would make Cache blush. Not to mention that the DJ wasn’t sure if Gwen was joking about the use for that metal bat…

“Batter up, homerun queen!” Cache called out to her party guest, bringing her hand far back, then launching the ball forward. Her mask’s lenses were fired up with a bright red colour.

In a blink of an eye, Gwen struck the ball with her bat - it made a loud, distinct and exciting “bonk!” sound, then sent the ball flying across the dancefloor until it hit the wall, bounced off it and crashed into the bar, landing in someone’s drink. As the ball sank in the glass, it hissed - apparently her strike was so powerful it heated up.

The room of partygoers cheered, also contributing to the recording. Cache’s mask hid her true emotions, but she was fascinated, and - as silly as it would seem - it felt like love at first sight for her.

The DJ was consumed by her work, and while her usual set of music was playing for the partygoers to enjoy, dance to, get them warmed up for the new thing - she was piecing everything together, chaotically, re-doing, doing it again, clipping and cutting, mixing and tweaking, it seemed like no one would be able to decipher the way she made her music. Gwen could only observe her from the dancefloor, standing there now empty-handed - she didn’t want someone bumping into her with that - the tool was meant for use with intent only.

She was spacing out. When she snapped out of it, all that came to mind were questions - why was this weirdo so interested in her? The ritual of collecting those sound samples, perhaps, wasn’t an unusual thing at the party for newcomers, but why was her case so particular?

Then again, the oddball DJ did have a pretty neat-looking mask. Gwen caught herself thinking whether Cache was a conjurer or not - it’s been a long while since she fought an opponent so flashy.

After some while, the track was ready and inserted into the playlist. It was a very active, energetic piece with fanfares, Cache’s vocoder voice repeating the phrase she had said earlier and, of course, the sound of the bat hitting the ball, followed by extatic cheer of the crowd. It was wild, and appealed to Gwen quite a bit - although she did find it just a bit silly to get such a tribute to herself right off the bat. Ha, that’s a good one.

Smirking, she raised her hand up and gave Cache a thumbs-up, and the DJ responded with her mask’s lights changing colour to pink, with beating little hearts in each lens. She was happy she could make Gwen smile - at least, since it didn’t seem like the song made the guest from the big city fancy a dance - West stood still like she had her sneakers glued to the floor. It made Cache a bit uncomfortable and upset at first, but later on she realized that the exciting guest of her was, in fact, staring at the DJ working her playlist. She tried to pretend she didn’t notice - not that she’d know how to respond anyway.

Time passed fast in the club - and the newcomer group didn’t even notice it. The show was coming to a conclusion, most guests had to leave the dark dancing wonderland of Cache Monet. Io and Beck looked like they were absolutely exhausted from all the dancing, Kai was having a nice chat with someone, although seemed absolutely uninterested at that point - the conversations kept coming her way non-stop, every local guest curious about the news from Neo Awlins.

Cache played the final couple of songs, the lights suddenly turned off - all that remained were the glowing lava lamps, faintly illuminating the floor and walls around it. And a large “exit” sign at the door, for convenience - it broke the immersion just a little bit. The artist would retreat “backstage” - which simply meant clumsily walking off her stage and navigating the room with the helmet’s built-in night vision function guiding her through the dark. As she was getting closer to her room, she bumped into something - an obstacle that wasn’t supposed to be in her escape route.

It was Gwen.

“Wh- How did you see me?”

“... Your mask.”

Cache felt dumb. She realized she forgot to turn the lenses’ glow in her mask, she was quick to do so - now no one could notice her except Gwen, who was close enough to see the DJ in the dark.

“Ha! That’s right! Well-well, Cache Monet signing off…” the DJ tried to keep her act up, while attempting to slip away from the city gal.

“Your music, I liked it.”

Warm. How could something feel so warm, but said in such a cold manner? Cache stopped walking and looked back.

“Thanks.”

“You’re a bit odd, though. Funny.”

It stung just a little bit. Cache prayed that Gwen didn’t mean it in a bad way.

“H-ha, we’re all odd here…” she reasoned, then got interrupted by her guest.

“Do you wanna hang out?”

“Gwen, where are you?! It’s so dark in here! We’re going out, meet you downstairs in the coffee shop!” Beck yelled from somewhere in the dancefloor room.

“Uh,” Cache was dumbfounded, “yeah?”

“Where?”

“Uh. Uh. Here. Password will be: HOMERUN,” Cache blurted out, nervous.

“Imaginative,” Gwen said and pat the DJ on the shoulder a couple of times. Then she left.

She left, but Cache was sure of it - the city gal promised to return, and she would. There was one thing the DJ feared, though, and it was the fact that Gwen was definitely not from around Otecho, which could mean that their interactions would come to end, some time. Her mind was filled with thoughts that made little sense. The club was closed, the party was over - Leigh took her big flashy mask off, sat down at the table in the kitchen. She held it in her hands, looking at it, staring. That’s what Gwen saw - the DJ, but would she want to hang out with Leigh? Why would she.

She heard Ad Hoc saying something to her, but just couldn’t respond, and her alien companion decided to give her some space and time instead of bothering her any more.

Then again, her identity would be revealed to someone who’s almost a complete stranger to her. Was it reasonable? Would it ruin her mysterious image of Cache Monet? What if that cool girl was, in fact, just someone evil trying to toy with her?

She held onto her own head and slowly lowered it onto the table, the rattling and clamouring of thoughts in her mind so loud it exhausted her.

The next day passed, but nothing happened. It was so stupid, but it made Leigh’s poor heart hurt, and as she was going to sleep after spending most of the day sketching, thinking up, designing a new graffiti piece, she couldn’t help but drop a couple of tears onto her pillow. Why?

Then, there was a knock on the door. Somehow, her hope had been lost a while before - as much as she wanted to believe that Gwen would come back and visit, she was too weak-willed to keep it in mind. She almost gave up.

Perhaps, it was some annoying mogwai door-to-door salesman.

“Password?”

“Uh.”

She couldn’t tell whose voice it was at first. It took the person on the other side of the door a while to recall the word.

“HOMERUN.”

Cache was the happiest girl in the world. She opened the door and finally saw Gwen, and smiled. Somehow, the city gal looked very surprised - at least, something made her raise an eyebrow. Gwen saw Leigh.

She felt her hands get cold as she touched her own face really quickly, realizing that she forgot the mask.

“Oh no,” she whispered and ran back into her room. Gwen followed her, a little bit confused, looking around at the interior - now well-lit, since there was no party going on. It felt weird, but also honest, private, something not many people see. She wondered why the elusive Cache Monet not only did agree to hang out, but also showed her face. Perhaps, that really was an accident.

She understood. When Cache was back with the mask on - still adjusting it because it was put on so hastily - Gwen welcomed her with a smirk on her face, but a friendly one.

“Hey, you OK?”

“Uh. Yes! Ab-so-lu-te-ly!”

“You don’t have to, you know, but I understand if you need it. Alright?” Gwen looked very serious saying that. Cache stood still, trying to get her thoughts together.

“Alright. Thanks, …?”

“Gwen. I’m Gwen West,” she extended her hand forward for a handshake.

Leigh reached for it at first, but so nervous that she did so with the wrong hand. Gwen chuckled softly at that, and decided to wait for the DJ to figure it out. When she finally did, she held onto Gwen’s hand tightly, and shook it with a passion.

“I’m... Cache Monet.”

“Pleasure to meet you. So, what’s the plan?”

They spent the whole day together. Cache showed off her fun collection of old video and audio cassettes, then her video game cartridges - it turned out that they had some favourites in common. Gwen was rather fascinated with Leigh’s taste in pretty much everything - although she didn’t get the passion for vape devices and accessories, but looked rather curious in the end when Cache decided to show the process of charging and using one of the things to her.

Gwen even got to help Cache with the graffiti design, so much into it that she didn’t notice Ad Hoc walk around the room behind them on tiptoes. She even tried to draw her own thing, which obviously had her favourite colours of red, white and blue, a baseball bat and some blood dripping off it - which made Cache a little bit worried, but also intrigued. She thought Gwen was the coolest.

Then, at some point it was time to say their goodbyes. It was an anxious time. Sadness over having to part ways, regret over even letting it all happen - just for it to be cut short like that. Gwen told her about Neo Awlins, about the fact she was just over here for a week or so, that she’d have to go back.

“It’s a shame we didn’t get to fight.”

“Perhaps you could… take a trip here again?”

“No can do. Busy schedule at home, in the coming months.”

“I’m going to miss you.”

“My number. You have it.”

“Well, yes, but…”

Gwen thought for a little bit, standing at the door. Cache was also there, quite close to her, fiddling with a pair of headphones in her hands.

“You could visit me, then,” Gwen came up with an idea.

“I mean, I guess. But I’m a conjurer in town, so…”

“I thought Patch was also a witch.”

That made Cache pause. Indeed, Patch also was a conjurer, and surely could take care of trouble if Leigh left the town.

“You don’t have to worry about anything when you visit. You’re very niche and no one knows you in Neo Awlins,” Gwen provided another good reason.

“I’ll think about it all, I guess. Make sure no one sees you when you leave, ha-ha…”

Gwen opened the door and was about to step through.

“Wait!”

She turned around and saw Cache run back into her room, then return with a audio cassette in her hands. She extended it to Gwen.

“Please, take this. It’s my own mix.”

The city gal accepted that sudden gift, hiding it in her jacket’s pocket. She felt a little bit bad she didn’t have anything to give to the cute DJ in return.

“Thanks.”

“Just call me when you get back home? Bad weather, recently. For road trips. And other trips.”

Gwen put her hand on the top of Cache’s head and ruffled her hair. Poor Leigh’s heart almost stopped.

“OK-OK, I will. Don’t worry.”

The door was closed and locked. Cache pressed her back onto happy like never before. She immediately thought of beginning to save up money for her future trip to Neo Awlins. She spent the rest of the evening telling Ven and Ad Hoc about Gwen, and both of her friends had to sit through all two hours of her talking non-stop. It was a bit uncomfortable, but a pleasant surprise - it was extremely rare for Leigh to act so happy.


End file.
